My Sister, Ann, Sleeping

My Mom and sister took a fun trip to Las Vegas - and my Mom sketched this of her as she was sleeping in a hotel bed.

Neither my Mom nor sister were able to travel much - each had to deal with very difficult circumstances. This would be their last vacation trip away together though, that I recall. They got some of the best, and most fun, recent pictures of themselves ever though, on that trip - I am super-glad they went!!!

MY SISTER ANN DIED IN A CAR CRASH, IN 2012. It was related to some care-taking employment she took up - one with some poor working conditions - in desperation, after escaping an abusive relationship. My Mom knew about the hard time she was having, and it disturbed her - especially since she was so far away, in another state. But then, my sister's death devastated her. (My sister had been in several car accidents prior to this one - a least a couple of them were serious, one of them being very near death [leaving much scarring, and a head and foot injury.])


My Mom died September 21, 2014. (It's been a long string of lousy years.) My Mom had been storing a lot of my recently dead sister's stuff at her house....So when my brother and I went to clear my Mom's house out, I was not only going through the stuff of my mother's, but my sister's too.

It is sad. I discovered so much that I didn't know my sister and I had in common AFTER she died (the same thing with my Mom, too) - from looking at pictures; seeing what subjects she was interested in taking pictures of; reading/seeing pictures of her activities; seeing what cook books and plant books, etc,  she collected; and seeing what cooking tools and serving accessories she also amassed. :)

I like to hunt mushrooms, so did my sister. She even kept an intensive notebook/binder/folder on the subject. (Like my Mom, my sister was also into horticulture, and was a Master Gardener. Like my Mom, too, this girl also amassed a pile of State Fair ribbons !! [My sister received some for photography too.])

And like my Mom - despite living through hard times - she could be a comedian. :)

My Mom, sister, and I all loved coffee, chocolate, and things of the garden. That, I knew.  :)

I look forward to us being here together again someday - when God "will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning, nor outcry, nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4) 

I can hardly wait to have chocolate and coffee with them both - in a stunning garden here. Scars and pain, sickness, poverty - and pain of heart - all troubles - will be gone. Everything will renewed.